Gradska opstina Palilula

The fighting for the liberation of Nis began in mid-December 1977, when the Ibar, Moravian and Danube divisions crossed the Serbian-Turkish border and took positions north-west of the city, approaching five to eight kilometers. The Ibar division penetrated the south and cut the connection between Niš and Leskovac. Then the Serbian army won Pirot and Belo Palanka, disabling the connection of the Turkish garrison in Nis with troops in Sofia and broke into the Selicevica mountain, closing the ring around Nis and on the south side. Total Serb forces had 15,000 soldiers and 102 cannons, and 5,000 Turkish soldiers and 267 guns.The main attack on Nis, under the command of Colonel Jovan Belimarkovic, was carried out by the Sumadija Corps from the slopes of the Selicevica Mountain, which was considered “the gateway to the entrance to Nis”, because the southern part of the city was weakest by the Turks. Already in the first attacks, the Mark Kale, the Curlin Vis, and the Velika Kamara were conquered, and with the strong effect of artillery and the cooperation of other units, the last fortifications in Gorica were also endangered.

At the same time, the Serbian forces, under the command of Colonel Milojko Lešjanin, also attacked the north-west. When the first shells began to fall into the city, Turkish elders of the city, after some tactics and hesitation in awaiting help, finally signed the Convention on the Surrender of Nis. In the liberated city of Nis, the handover of the city, the Serbian flag on Stambol Gate was put by of Todor P. Stanković, a member of the secret committee for liberation and the person born in Nis.

In the battle for Nis, 120 Serb soldiers were killed and 791 wounded. Knez Milan Obrenovic, Commander-in-Chief of the Serbian Army, solemnly entered Nis, only a few days after the liberation. The liberation struggle and other parts of southeastern Serbia were soon completed, and Knez Milan and the Serbian government continued diplomatic activity to re-attach the newly formed regions to Serbia, as was done at the Berlin Congress. Knez Milan will then purchase a house in Niš, and at his request, Niš will be the site of frequent meetings of the National Assembly (especially in the period 1883-1886) and the Serbian government, and thus become the second capital of Serbia.